After 31 months on West Main Street, Donna Athey, owner of Eldon's Cafe, has called it quits.

"We just couldn't pay the bills," said Athey. "It's really sad. Three people lost their jobs."

The restaurant, which offered "bistro-style cuisine," was open for breakfast and lunch.

Athey said in the beginning, business was strong, and she even managed to "break even" after just 10 months. But this past July, "the bottom dropped out of the bucket," she said.

"When we starting getting into our retirement account to pay the Consumer's (Energy) bill, I knew it was over," she said. "We were barely making it. I finally threw in the towel."

Athey said she never intended to get rich from her business venture, but she did expect to be able to pay the bills. In the end, high overhead, coupled with not enough customers, made that impossible.

"We liked Ionia, but the community didn't realize when there is a new business, it's hugely important to stop in and support them," she said. "You've got to give them a leg up, or they're not going to make it. We're not the only ones."

Athey, who was a sous chef for Steelcase, catering for the company's corporate jets and running its kitchen for 16 years, plans to take some time off and update her resume to look for a job. It will take a couple of years to save enough for another down payment, but she said she will try again.

"I failed at this, but I learned a lot," she said. "It was a great experience. There's a lot more to it than I thought."

"It's a very sad situation that we lost such a wonderful family restaurant," said Linda Curtis, Ionia Downtown Development Authority director. "Donna supported a multitude of community events, and she will be missed as part of that."

Curtis noted that, while there are a number of vacant properties in the downtown area, both her office and local Realtors have fielded "a great deal of inquiries" regarding those properties.

In addition, the DDA will soon add a list of available properties in the business district to the city's Website for anyone looking to relocate and for developers, she said.

"We are anticipating more businesses to open in the downtown area," she said. "It's still sad that we had to lose Eldon's, but we have had lots of inquiries, and that is very optimistic."